As we brim with ideas of the “perfect holiday season” and shop for our families, stop to imagine a child carrying all of their possessions in a black, plastic trash bag. That is the unfortunate reality for children in the foster care system today, who often have to move quickly using just a trash bag. Closet Factory DFW is asking North Texas to help change that: Through the Closet Factory Cares Bags for Kids initiative, new, high-quality bags are being donated to Community Partners of Dallas. Now, the company is asking North Texas to help fill those bags with items that children in the system need most – all with the goal of helping children in need feel valued and loved this holiday season and year-round.
On Saturday, November 18 – on National Adoption Day -- the Closet Factory Cares Fill the Bags for Kids event will take place at the Parkway Towne Crossing Shopping Center at El Dorado and the Dallas North Tollway in Frisco, near Super Target, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The public is invited to this free, family-friendly holiday event that will feature appearances from Santa Claus, toy soldier stilt walkers, and Miss Texas Ellie Breaux (Miss Texas will appear at the event starting at 12 p.m. noon). Attendees will also enjoy holiday music from Star 102.1 FM, radio station giveaways, and appearances from Star 102.1 FM personalities.
Most importantly, the public is invited to help fill new, high-quality bags that will be given to children in the foster care system by providing donations of toys, hygiene items and clothing such as new pajamas, socks and underwear. Representatives from Community Partners of Dallas will also be on-site at the event to receive donations and to raise awareness for the great need for support of children in the foster care system. Click here for a registry of items needed that will be donated to Community Partners of Dallas.
“Through our Closet Factory Cares non-profit program, we’ve invited our community, our staff and our clients to help children in need feel valued and loved,” said Jeff Henderson, president and CEO of Closet Factory DFW, the North Texas partner of this nationwide non-profit. Henderson’s nephew was adopted from the foster care system, so it’s a cause that hits close to home: “When we found out that many children in the foster care system moved often, and typically with only a plastic trash bag to hold their belongings, we knew we had to do something to help,” Henderson said. “Everyone deserves a place to put their stuff, and we want to provide children in need with the dignity and respect of having that.”
Henderson’s vision for a way to bring his community together to help was the genesis of Closet Factory Cares, an idea that spread across the country to Closet Factory franchises coast to coast. Closet Factory Cares launched its Bags for Kids program this summer. For every project customers start with Closet Factory, a new, high-quality duffel bag is donated to a child in need through carefully chosen non-profit organizations that work with children to ensure the donations are made in the way that best benefits the child. Through this unique program, Closet Factory Cares will donate more than 40,000 bags nationwide in its first year of operation. All donations benefit children locally, so all bags raised by Closet Factory DFW stay here in North Texas.
“As a company, coming together to help children has been something that has allowed us all to connect for a very important purpose, and we thought we would open that invitation up for all North Texans to join us,” Henderson added.
Through its Closet Factory Cares program, Closet Factory DFW is honored to support Community Partners of Dallas, which provides what abused children urgently need today to thrive tomorrow. Founded as a nonprofit in 1989 as a way for the community to support the work of Child Protective Services (CPS) in Dallas County, Community Partners of Dallas brings together caring individuals, companies and organizations to meet the needs of 15,000 abused and neglected children annually. Community Partners remains the first and only nonprofit to address these specific needs in Dallas County through programs that have been replicated by more than 155 cities across Texas.
On November 18, the day of the Closet Factory Cares Fill the Bags for Kids event, Americans will recognize National Adoption Day, a collective, grassroots effort to raise awareness of the more than 113,000 children waiting to be adopted from foster care in the U.S. National Adoption Day was first celebrated in 2000 as a collective effort by courts, judges, adoption professionals, and child advocates across the United States. Its goal is to raise awareness about the importance of adoption and to celebrate the joy of building families through adoption. Since its inception, National Adoption Day has grown into a nationwide celebration that has led to the adoption of thousands of children from foster care into loving, permanent homes.
ABOUT CLOSET FACTORY CARES
Closet Factory Cares is the non-profit organization of Closet Factory, the national leader in custom-designed organizational solutions. On February 9, 1983, Closet Factory opened its first location to provide custom closets, offices, entertainment centers, garage systems, pantries, bookshelves, and more that are custom-designed to meet the specific needs of the client. In North Texas, Closet Factory DFW is honored to work with Community Partners of Dallas, supplying the non-profit with new, high-quality duffel bags through the Bags for Kids program, and helping to lead initiatives to supply other much-needed items for the charity through its partnerships with the community.